


The sun will be guiding you

by vemodalarna



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Crushes, Drabble, F/F, M/M, One Shot, Pining, Secret Crush, and zane being supportive and flustered over his established relationship with cole, basically pixal not understanding love, i don't know where this falls on the timeline btw, i still dont understand how to tag things, it's after PIXALS reveal in s8 but otherwise? i dont know, it's not the best but it sure is something, kinda??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 04:42:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20772710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vemodalarna/pseuds/vemodalarna
Summary: PIXAL asks Zane about love.





	The sun will be guiding you

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello welcome to "i haven't written in half a year nor completed a fic in a full year"! this time featuring Ninjago! because it's been the only show i've watched this summer and trust me i do not control the hyperfixation. 
> 
> i dont really control the ships, either- i always end up with the rarepairs. like there's maybe 10 people who ship PIXAL/Nya. it's all mlm no wlw per usual but i do not Care, PIXAL/Nya has my heart along with glacier and i will Not stop writing about that android lesbian and water bi, thank u.
> 
> this isn't edited, but rather copied straight from the phone note i wrote this in a flurry yesterday. because i am gay and that is how i work.

PIXAL was idly watching the numbers and code flash by on the screen when Zane knocked on the door. She quietly shut down the diagnostics program, disappointed in her findings; nothing was out of the ordinary. All of her systems were optimized and functioning. No mentions of a hiccup or virus anywhere. The code was flawless, like it always seemed to be.

"Come in," she called out, while swiftly but carefully pulling out the clunky cable from the left side panel on her chest, ejecting it with a soft _ pop _. Zane sheepishly poked his head out from behind the opening of the cave, giving PIXAL a little smile. 

"There you are," he sighed, an artificial sound created by his voicebank. PIXAL found it odd, but Zane had previously stated that it made him feel 'more like he belonged' - that it made it less obvious that he wasn’t organic like his family all were. "Nya's been looking for you. She said you malfunctioned and refused to let her help?" 

PIXAL clenched her jaw and looked away from Zane. Shame flooded her system as she recounted the days events- a totally normal sparring fight between Nya and herself. Losing wasn’t the shameful part; it was how her body reacted to...

Shaking her head, PIXAL stood up from her chair- too fast if Zane's expression was anything to go by. Weaving around the mechanisms and machines, she quickly picked up a sweater that was lying around in the Samurai X hide-out. She didn't need to wear clothes, but she knew that it led to discomfort or flushed looks her way whenever she didn't.

"I am fine, Zane," PIXAL hummed, while pulling the sweater over her head. "You do not need to worry."

Zane frowned slightly, closing the door behind him and crossing his arms. "Forgive me for being blunt, but your powers shutting off because of a simple throw over the shoulder is not 'fine'."

"I ran a diagnostics test," she replied, her eyes drifting to the now turned off screen. "Nothing is out of the ordinary. My systems are optimized and running and I cannot detect any physical injuries that would cause me to turn off." PIXAL sat back down on the chair in front of the control panels, watching as Zane furrowed his brow and grabbing the spare chair that Nya used and placing it next to her.

"Then why did you?" Zane sat down with a soft _ clunk _, his fans whirring softly. His blue eyes flashed, and he sat back with a concerned look on his face. "My sensors cannot indicate anything wrong. Something, however, is clearly distracting you. Your movements were less sharp than usual today."

PIXAL's fans kicked in, and she forcefully archived the wave of embarrassment she felt in her systems. Her cooling liquid rushed through her body, hurrying to lower the temperature of her core and limbs before anything fried or shut off. "Yes, Zane, I noted."

Zane didn't respond, so PIXAL took the time to sort through and analyze the memories from the sparring. Nothing was vastly different from her usual trainings. Everything was running smoothly, until she changed sparring partners to... Hm.

"Zane, how did you..." PIXAL started slowly, breaking the silence. "How did you figure out your feelings for Cole? How did you manage to define _ love _?"

The titanium nindroid sat up even straighter, somehow, at her question. "Ah, that is a complicated question."

PIXAL looked at Zane as his eyes flashed a darker blue and nervously scratched a hand behind his head. "Well, when did you realize you had acquired more than platonic love for him?"

"I will be fully honest with you, PIXAL," Zane chuckled, "I would have kept analyzing for decades why my systems reacted differently to him if it were not for him confessing to me first."

"What do you mean?"

"Love is very hard to define, and thus to understand. For the longest time I assumed that I would never feel romantic love," He explained, looking thoughtfully at the Samurai X suit stationed in the room. "And yet, after Yang and Stix, I found that my feelings for Cole were different compared to the others. It was not necessarily stronger or more confusing than the feelings I felt for the other in our chosen family, but. It was not the same."

Humming, PIXAL looked down at her hands. That was indeed similar to how she is currently feeling about Nya. Not worse or better, but different to how she reacts to Zane and the rest of the ninja. Stroking her hands across the soft blue fabric of the sweater (of _ Nya’s _ sweater, she realised with a start- she must’ve left it here when she last visited), her sensors tingled as the static of her fans mingled with her thoughts.

Ever since her reveal as Samurai X, Sensei Wu had recruited her for proper training. PIXAL didn't need it, as she was a nindroid - she could simply download data and put it to use without training, but Sensei Wu insisted. In usual Sensei Wu fashion, he said a probably inspirational quote, but PIXAL had a hard time picking it apart and understanding it.

PIXAL won nearly every time someone sparred against her. Analysing and predicting her opponents’ movements was something that took no energy at all; Kai was too hectic, and not planned out. Jay flails too often and can't control his strength. Cole tends to rely _ too much _ on brute force when he loses his concentration, and while Zane is the most balanced out of the bunch, he can get too caught up in the numbers to fight freely. Nya, however... Nya was the hardest to predict and beat.

Nya banters while she fights, her words smooth and knowing, yet sharp and biting. She's light on her feet despite being a sturdier and shorter build. While she mostly stays in one fighting style, she's versatile and can quickly change to defensive from offensive, and vice versa. Despite being serious in actual brawls and scenarios, Nya laughs and jokes as she spars and trains. It distracts PIXAL too much to predict her blows.

That is just what happened that day. PIXAL got distracted while analyzing a jab Nya had thrown at her, giving Nya the perfect opportunity to strike. She had grabbed PIXAL by the arm and flipped her. Nya had just laughed that loud and spontaneous laugh at her, and extended her hand to help PIXAL up. 

From PIXAL's view Nya looked like nothing PIXAL had ever seen before. Around her hair was a soft and warm glow from the sun, a halo illuminating her face and changing the black tint of the loose curly strands sticking out from her ponytail. Her deep brown eyes had sparkles in them and her soft, round flushed cheeks pushed up against them. Between her eyes, her nose was scrunched up, the way it did when Nya smiled genuinely. PIXAL found that she longed to see her this way more often, to make Nya happy and to hear her laugh. How she wished she could stay in that position and admire the woman in front of her more often.

It... It was too much information for PIXAL to handle. Warning notifications clouded her vision, her fans going haywild inside her chest and her motherload heating up. A strange feeling arose in her chest, and the last thing she saw was Nya's expression turning concerned as her systems shut down.

"In what ways was it different?" PIXAL asked curiously. “How did your attraction to Cole change… Well, your behavior?” Zane smiled at her, warm and flustered. 

"I was, ah, distracted, mostly. I found myself thinking about him more. I would feel elevated yet terribly anxious whenever I was around him- which was not good for our team, by the way," Both nindroids chuckle, the unnoticed tenseness in PIXAL's shoulders melting away. "My system would generate daydreams and thoughts about him, possible what-if's that were so much more... Involved than it had ever done with the others. My fans would work in overdrive to keep my circuits from frying around him. I put so much of my energy into unwillingly noticing small details, from the cracks in his hands or the texture of his hair. Wondering and wishing about him."

PIXAL softly clenched her fist, remember how pretty Nya was under the sun, and how she had an undeniable need to remember everything about that moment.

"So when he admitted to having... Romantic feelings- you understood what it was that you felt?"

"No, not exactly," Zane grinned at PIXAL's confused face. "I understood that I, too, felt a romantic need to be with him, but I never could, nor _ have _ defined love. I still get warnings and emotions that I cannot compute properly or solve. The important difference, however, is that I know the source, and it makes the whole experience easier to pick apart and understand."

Nodding, PIXAL subconsciously opened up her memories. How many are there of her not understanding the signals her systems and body are giving her? How many feature Nya, with her smiles and laughter and wild hjinks and theories that leave PIXAL speechless and bewildered every time? How many memories has she purposefully archived, because they were not memories at all; rather figments of her imagination, puzzling together fantasies of the two together, or of obscure details featuring Nya? PIXAL simply didn't know.

“I do not know if I am capable of loving someone,” PIXAL admitted, her voicebank rumbling quietly. “I do not believe that is in my programming. In the very least not romantic love.”

“And I doubt it is in mine,” Zane chuckled. “Yet, I found that I had fallen for Cole. You are the only one who can find out whether or not you are able to love, PIXAL. And if you aren’t capable of romantic love, you are clearly capable of platonic love.”

"If I were to _ hypothetically _ catch these feelings- _ romantic feelings _ \- for someone," she unsurely spoke, feeling her eyes flash pink and her cooling liquid circulating. Warnings popped up in the corner of her eye how her sensors were overloading slightly. "What would be the best course of action?"

"That depends from person to person," Zane nodded, clasping his fingers together with a click. "What would hypothetically work best for you and your counterpart? What is your raw, unfiltered instinct? Consider before you do anything, but do not overanalyze. You will only get stuck in the numbers and analytics of it all- and those are not to be trusted when it comes to things such as love. They are usually unreliable, since love is an unpredictable phenomenon."

Frowning slightly, PIXAL made a mental note to save this for future use. 

"I must go," Zane stated, sheepishly standing up and moving his chair out of the way. "The chicken I am roasting will soon be done. If you wish, I will let you know once dinner is ready."

"I do not eat."

"No, but good company truly never hurts." His footsteps echoed along with his words as he wandered towards the cave entrance.

"Thank you, Zane," PIXAL called out, successfully stopping Zane in his tracks and making him look over his shoulder. "For everything."

"It is no problem," he smiled and resumed his walking. "Good luck with Nya!" he called out right before stepping outside the cave and closing the door, ignoring PIXAL’s offended yelp and giving a clear chuckle in the distance.

Embarrassed but satisfied, PIXAL busied herself with cleaning up the cables she used for her diagnostics check. Nya’s shirt hung around her shoulders, it’s shape too short for her chest but yet too big to sit snuggly. PIXAL found that she didn’t wish for it to fit any other way. The soft blue contrasted well with the purple electric veins that adorned her arms, the color family intermingling aesthetically. Smiling, she decided that was more than enough talk for one day. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading my fic! can't wait to not finish another fic until next september


End file.
